For rolled tissue products, such as bathroom tissue and paper towels, consumers generally prefer firm rolls having a large diameter. A firm roll conveys superior product quality and a large diameter conveys sufficient material to provide value for the consumer. From the standpoint of the tissue manufacturer, however, providing a firm roll having a large diameter is a challenge. In order to provide a large diameter roll, while maintaining an acceptable cost of manufacture, the tissue manufacturer must produce a finished tissue roll having higher roll bulk. One means of increasing roll bulk is to wind the tissue roll loosely. Loosely wound rolls however, have low firmness and are easily deformed, which makes them unappealing to consumers. As such, there is a need for tissue rolls having high bulk as well as good firmness.
Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a rolled tissue product having a high-basis-weight tissue sheet that is also soft. To provide a tissue product that is perceived as being soft, the tissue manufacturer is faced with a myriad of choices, including altering the surface topography of the tissue product so that its user perceives it as being smooth.
Although it is desirable to provide a sheet having high-basis-weight, bulk, good roll firmness, and a smooth surface, improvement of one of these properties typically comes at the expense of another. For example, as the basis weight of the tissue sheets is increased, achieving high roll bulk becomes more challenging, particularly when manufacturing uncreped through-air dried webs since much of the bulk of the tissue structure is achieved by molding of the embryonic tissue web into the paper-making fabric and this bulk is decreased by increasing the basis weight of the sheet. Hence the tissue manufacturer must strive to economically produce a tissue roll that meets these often-contradictory parameters of large diameter, good firmness, high quality sheets and acceptable cost.